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PRESENTING THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY Manrre Logistics Fund’s Chief Executive Officer Kunal Lahori shares his insights on industrial real estate investments and his vision for the company
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he UAE retail eCommerce market reached a record USD3.9 billion in 2020, a 53% year-over-year increase driven by the COVID19-led digital shift. With this growth comes the significant requirement for last mile fulfilment centres and operational hubs; all of which require vast amounts of warehousing square footage. 16 | LOGISTICS NEWS ME | JUNE 2022
Manrre Logistics Fund, a private Dubai-based investment company, entered the market in 2018 to capitalise on this and offers investors investment opportunities in industrial and logistics real estate. Manrre focuses on institutionalgrade logistics and industrial properties in locations including Jafza, Dubai Investments Park and Dubai South, in addition to investments in the cloud,
Strategic investments The company recently announced two strategic investments in Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) increasing the value of its portfolio by 22.5% to USD71.3 million. The first of the investments in Jebel Ali is a facility leased to Infofort, a subsidiary of Iron Mountain, a company focused on records management, data backup and recovery, document management and data centres. The second is AMS Integrated Solutions, a Danish company operating in nine countries specialising in fleet management, technical training, and logistical needs for mission readiness. Both new additions have fully guaranteed 10-year lease agreements in place. Kunal Lahori explains how the fund works. “Manrre is the one of the few players in this niche space and presents investors with a unique opportunity for exposure to a growing class of regional assets. The fund has a threeyear track record and has delivered an annual ROI of 7.7% since inception which in comparison to other global real estate funds is on the higher end of the spectrum,” he says. Commenting on the twin investments, Lahori says: “We are extremely proud of the new additions to our ever-growing investment portfolio. Both investments align with our strategy on long-term and stable income generation of logistics assets, with high exposure to the rapidly growing e-commerce market. This allows our investors to benefit from a higher-yield and a commitment to capital preservation.” High yields There has been significant growth over the last ten years in Dubai’s industrial real estate sector. He adds: “We have seen a shift in demand which is more towards eFulfilment and distribution rather than other areas. Technology is being used more in the space along with a big focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors which includes LEED and solar as a priority, our new facilities will incorWWW.CBNME.COM
